2020
Brexit trade talks begin again. The UK gutter press issues its usual xenophobic bile. Fat, disinterested Johnson is being pushed out by his "second", Dominic Cummings, who controls everything. Unprepared Johnson has no interest in the detail of trade talks. Surely Barnier has been briefed on the perfidious Cummings – and to expect all manner of dirty tricks. 
Sunak’s first budget is overshadowed (overwhelmed) by the coronavirus outbreak. There is really nothing else on the agenda. This is going to cost money. Lots of it. You have no idea how much. How much do we have? telegraph 8/3/20. 
Johnson announces a new four phase strategy to combat coronavirus. Everything will go swimmingly, smooth as ice. What can go wrong? Twitter 11/3/20
Boris starts daily briefings. Meanwhile a leaked NHS/PHE report indicates potential overload and 7.9m people hospitalised. The pandemic is taking hold with some degree of urgency. Johnson panics and tries to calm everyone down. The medics are having none of it – they see patients entering and deteriorating at a serious rate. Evening Standard 16/3/2020
After Boris tries to calm everyone, everyone panics and buys up toilet paper, flour and baked beans as if it were wartime. It reminded me of that famous guilt-provoking recruitment poster. Church Times 20/5/2020
Extreme measures are required across Europe to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Lockdown! Nothing like it since wartime. Or maybe the plague. He has us in his nasty little grip. www.encompass-europe.com 25/3/2020
Trump defies even his own stupidity by saying that the virus will simply go away and in a bizarre press briefing, he advocates heat, light – “supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way” and injecting disinfectant to fight it. Yep, we’ve had quite enough of experts. Telegraph 25/5/2020
Rishi Sunak is drawing up measures to allow non-essential businesses to reopen in a “safe and practical way” after the national lockdown eases. Will the old economy be a little rusty? Telegraph 26/4/20
Merkel agrees to release German funds to restart Europe. It has taken time for her to shift, but the dam gates are opening. She seems to be the only statesmanlike statesman on the world platform at present. www.encompass-europe.com 30/4/2020
Boris declares war on fat. He admits he is not in great shape, just as the new traffic-light warning system for the level of covid-19 threat comes into place. Evening Standard 15/5/2020
It’s all looking a bit grim on this Summer Solstice for Johnson. The economy is tanking, deaths are rising and people are losing confidence in him. Maybe he needs a trip to Stonehenge for a bit of spiritual uplift. Telegraph 21/6/2020
Wearing masks - conflicting advice emerges from Boris, Gove and Whitehall. Meanwhile Boris wears one in order to look responsible. It's all about how you look. Evening Standard 13/7/2020
The Brexit farce rumbles on. The customs problem seems to have become apparent even to Brexiters who said it wouldn't be a problem (like everything else). Gove's 206-page book on the new customs regs even admits that "Customs declarations are complicated". No shit! Red tapes all round! Meanwhile the new government slogan to recover the economy is “Let’s Get Going!”. www.encompass-europe.com 16/7/2020
Track and Trace is an unmitigated privatised disaster. Everyone is to blame but nobody will accept responsibility. And now schools have to find a way of returning for the new term without causing a second wave. Maybe they need some experts. Telegraph 6/8/20
Social media apps delete his untruthful posts about children being "immune" while he conducts a disastrous TV interview in which he brings out graphs to show his dumb analysis is correct. It isn’t. It’s just lies. Evening Standard 6/8/2020
Downturn is "less severe than feared" says Bank of England, despite it being the worst for 100 years. Well, that’s some comfort then. Telegraph 7/8/2020
1/3 of UK employers expect to cut jobs by October, according to a survey, threatening V-shaped recovery. Meanwhile, covid-19 cases are on the rise again. Johnson looks hostage to events. He didn’t want this, he wanted to pull the levers of power at his leisure. Evening Standard 10/8/2020
Education Secretary, the hapless Gavin Williamson, makes such a mess of the A-level results using a “mutant algorithm” that you have to wonder how he keeps his position. Ah yes, the clown deflecting the custard pies from another clown. Telegraph 16/8/2020
Johnson again gives hostage to fortune with his fantastical claim to be completing 10m tests per day by early 2021. Everyone knows this is fantasy. He calls it “Operation Moonshot”, invoking the glory of JFK. It is criticised as unachievable by scientists. Evening Standard 10/9/2020
There’s growing unrest, even possible mutiny on the Tory backbenches and Lords for Johnson's provocative Internal Market Bill, which proposes breaking an international treaty “in a limited and specific way”. It bears all the marks of a Cummings idea – red meat to rabid Leavers and the headbangers on the hard right of the party. Evening Standard 11/9/2020
