With 2021 only its first full week it seems that the overriding sense of chaos from 2020 isn’t going anywhere. With the UK dealing with the fallout of a 3rd national lockdown, adapting to Brexit and the announcement that all travellers to the UK will need have a negative Covid test before arrival. It is a good thing that we are no longer constrained by print column inches otherwise there would have been no room left to look at the ongoing crisis of democracy in the USA. It is only fitting that we hear from our leaders from both sides of the Atlantic as we move into the 2nd week of January.
Boris Johnson on the idea that Covid-19 is a hoax
‘If you sneak into a hospital in an empty corridor at 9 o'clock at night and film that particular corridor and then stick it up on social media and say 'this proves hospitals are empty, the whole thing is a hoax… You are not only responsible for potentially changing behaviour that will kill people but it is an insult to the nurse coming home from 12 hours critical care having worked her guts out under the most demanding and trying of circumstances."
He added: "There is nothing more demoralising than having that kind of nonsense spouted when it is most obviously untrue’’
Biden steps up the attack on President Trumps handling of the protestors on Capitol Hill
Biden labelled those involved in the assault on Capitol Hill, not as protestors but as ‘domestic terrorists’ going on the say that “For the past four years we’ve had a president who has made his contempt for our democracy, our constitution, and the rule of law clear in everything he has done,” Biden said. “He has unleashed an all-out assault on the institutions of our democracy.”
Michael O’Leary responds to the introduction of needing a negative covid test to enter the UK
‘This measure will destroy any confidence in forward bookings for air travel and for ferries, and it will essentially close off the UK," said Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary. Continuing to say “The real solution to this is vaccination, not artificial travel restrictions” as he called for an end date to the restrictions on travel.
"Boris Johnson has told us he will have vaccinated the 14 million high risk categories by the middle of February. What we need Grant Shapps to do today is confirm then that this ridiculous pre-arrival testing will then be removed by the middle of February."
Paul Mummery, spokesperson of the Road Haulage Association, speaks about the issues of goods transportation to the EU post-Brexit
As many companies, including delivery firm DPD, have stopped exports to the EU because of increasing red-tape and lorries being stopped at the border because of a lack of correct paperwork. “We will see supply chain friction in the coming weeks,” he said. “We don’t expect it to be as visible as the queues we saw in Kent before Christmas, but the impact will be there just the same, in the form of trucks parked up at inland checkpoints or standing idle in the depot waiting for paperwork to be completed before they set off.
"We’re expecting disruption for around six months until the new systems are bedded in.”
Sadiq Khan declares London is in ‘state of emergency’
“Our heroic doctors, nurses and NHS staff are doing an amazing job, but with cases rising so rapidly, our hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed. The stark reality is that we will run out of beds for patients in the next couple of weeks unless the spread of the virus slows down drastically. “
“We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.”
