The Downing Street Press Briefing

[BigH]

This really has become a bit of a joke hasn't it.

Worryingly, it feels more like a vehicle for propaganda and the vanity of ministers like Hancock.

As a teenager during the Falklands War, I remember a MOD official - Ian Macdonald I think it was - being wheeled out every evening to provide an update on events. His nightly address - short, to the point and given in a monotone delivery - seemed to act as a soothing balm to the nation and help scope a narrative for how the whole affair was being played out. Of course, afterwards it emerged that, at times, the reality had been anything but. Whatever, at the time, it seemed to work.

Whereas the briefing we get now often makes me despair and feel that no one in government has the foggiest as to what's really going on or a longer term plan for dealing with this. It should stop.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

They were pushed in to doing it. Theres a bit of a scramble in some cases to find something to update I feel as there isnt that much to update unlike at the very beginning where there was.

[Donnywolf]

I personally feel that Han-cog should be nowhere near the job he is in and certainly not be wheeled out as the op says to "update" us

I concede and have done several times that this would be a massive crisis for any PM or any Political Party to manage given the changes and dynamic way the thing is unfolding but good god there is a difference between it being difficult and what we have at the moment in the individuals involved

Some of them LOOK amateurish and thats me being kind to them and as BigH says there looks to be little point in those briefings apart from them giving "stock" answers that have been given time and again and in most cases are not genuine. (It does give them chance to say such things as "ramping up" a lot though and we have set an ambitious target of "x" relating to whatever the question is)

Although on the flip side is there really any point in the invited Journos asking someone such drivel as "when do you expect this will all end" and such questions which waste time and imo cant be answered. Who knows ffs)

[Filo]

I have n’t watched the last two briefings, it’s just repeated stuff over and over again, I didn’t open the letter we all got either, I had already read it online and all it said was what we have had rammed down our throats

[idler]

The money spent on Boris’s letter would have been far better being spent on PPE.

[Metalmicky]

This really has become a bit of a joke hasn't it.

Worryingly, it feels more like a vehicle for propaganda and the vanity of ministers like Hancock.

As a teenager during the Falklands War, I remember a MOD official - Ian Macdonald I think it was - being wheeled out every evening to provide an update on events. His nightly address - short, to the point and given in a monotone delivery - seemed to act as a soothing balm to the nation and help scope a narrative for how the whole affair was being played out. Of course, afterwards it emerged that, at times, the reality had been anything but. Whatever, at the time, it seemed to work.

Whereas the briefing we get now often makes me despair and feel that no one in government has the foggiest as to what's really going on or a longer term plan for dealing with this. It should stop.

TBF it is the constant thirst for information or a story from the press that has brought about these briefings... Our press pack like nothing better that a sensationalist story and love to dig away from every conceivable angle to get their scoop about what isn't being done...

I think that whoever was in government would have had the same issues - it's incredibly easy to stand on the sidelines and judge.... especially after the event.
 

[Glyn_Wigley]

They've been good for Sunak. For someone whom no-one had heard of until Javid resigned he's the only one coming across at these briefings as knowing what he's talking about.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

They've been good for Sunak. For someone whom no-one had heard of until Javid resigned he's the only one coming across at these briefings as knowing what he's talking about.

Hes done himself no harm of being the next leader after Boris.

[BillyStubbsTears]

MM

Political journalists asking hard questions is a key part of democracy.

I agree that many of our current crop are f**king useless and have made their reputation, not by digging, but by cosying up to politicians. That the likes of Kuenssberg and Peston are the top of the pack is appalling.

But they are not all terrible.

Laura Hughes of the FT yesterday asked PRECISELY the sort of question that journalists should ask.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Laura_K_Hughes/status/1250469791946727425

Hancock lied in his response, as he has done many times during this crisis.

In a well functioning democracy, the Press has a crucial role to play in rooting out lies and incompetence in Govt. But if the response of the public to the Press doing that is "meh", then democracy is in serious trouble. Ministers can lie their way through a crisis, people will die and no one will care.

And once again, I entirely agree with you that ANY Govt would have struggled with this crisis. Of course they would. It is appalling. But not every Govt would have pissed away those vital 6 weeks between late Jan and early March. And not every Govt minister would have lied so brazenly and publicly and frequently about what he is now doing as Hancock has, and kept his job.

[BigH]

And that failure to engage with Laura Hughes, allow and deal with a follow-on question says it all.

[drfchound]

This really has become a bit of a joke hasn't it.

Worryingly, it feels more like a vehicle for propaganda and the vanity of ministers like Hancock.

As a teenager during the Falklands War, I remember a MOD official - Ian Macdonald I think it was - being wheeled out every evening to provide an update on events. His nightly address - short, to the point and given in a monotone delivery - seemed to act as a soothing balm to the nation and help scope a narrative for how the whole affair was being played out. Of course, afterwards it emerged that, at times, the reality had been anything but. Whatever, at the time, it seemed to work.

Whereas the briefing we get now often makes me despair and feel that no one in government has the foggiest as to what's really going on or a longer term plan for dealing with this. It should stop.

TBF it is the constant thirst for information or a story from the press that has brought about these briefings... Our press pack like nothing better that a sensationalist story and love to dig away from every conceivable angle to get their scoop about what isn't being done...

I think that whoever was in government would have had the same issues - it's incredibly easy to stand on the sidelines and judge.... especially after the event.

Good post that MM.
Needed saying.

[BillyStubbsTears]

This really has become a bit of a joke hasn't it.

Worryingly, it feels more like a vehicle for propaganda and the vanity of ministers like Hancock.

As a teenager during the Falklands War, I remember a MOD official - Ian Macdonald I think it was - being wheeled out every evening to provide an update on events. His nightly address - short, to the point and given in a monotone delivery - seemed to act as a soothing balm to the nation and help scope a narrative for how the whole affair was being played out. Of course, afterwards it emerged that, at times, the reality had been anything but. Whatever, at the time, it seemed to work.

Whereas the briefing we get now often makes me despair and feel that no one in government has the foggiest as to what's really going on or a longer term plan for dealing with this. It should stop.

TBF it is the constant thirst for information or a story from the press that has brought about these briefings... Our press pack like nothing better that a sensationalist story and love to dig away from every conceivable angle to get their scoop about what isn't being done...

I think that whoever was in government would have had the same issues - it's incredibly easy to stand on the sidelines and judge.... especially after the event.

Good post that MM.
Needed saying.

That's all fine if you buy into the idea that we just leave Govt to get on with it because they are competent and doing the right things.

As I've said before, in the two World Wars, we found out the hard way that the Govts we started with were out of their depth when put to the test. Asquith's Govt was utterly incapable of organising the manufacture and supply of munitions. Chamberlain's Govt totally botched the Norway landings. Both  Govts were overthrown, but the damage had already been done by then.

Proper investigative political journalism is vital in establishing whether the people who govern us are actually competent at theur jobs. If you see that as "looking for scoops" then you don't truly understand how democracy works. Which is not to say that some, perhaps many of them aren't just looking for scoops - but you need to look past that and see the work done by the small number of brilliant journalists who do the quiet heavy lifting that is so necessary. Or you can just shrug your shoulders and ignore the mistakes of Govt.

[drfchound]

This really has become a bit of a joke hasn't it.

Worryingly, it feels more like a vehicle for propaganda and the vanity of ministers like Hancock.

As a teenager during the Falklands War, I remember a MOD official - Ian Macdonald I think it was - being wheeled out every evening to provide an update on events. His nightly address - short, to the point and given in a monotone delivery - seemed to act as a soothing balm to the nation and help scope a narrative for how the whole affair was being played out. Of course, afterwards it emerged that, at times, the reality had been anything but. Whatever, at the time, it seemed to work.

Whereas the briefing we get now often makes me despair and feel that no one in government has the foggiest as to what's really going on or a longer term plan for dealing with this. It should stop.

TBF it is the constant thirst for information or a story from the press that has brought about these briefings... Our press pack like nothing better that a sensationalist story and love to dig away from every conceivable angle to get their scoop about what isn't being done...

I think that whoever was in government would have had the same issues - it's incredibly easy to stand on the sidelines and judge.... especially after the event.

Good post that MM.
Needed saying.

That's all fine if you buy into the idea that we just leave Govt to get on with it because they are competent and doing the right things.

As I've said before, in the two World Wars, we found out the hard way that the Govts we started with were out of their depth when put to the test. Asquith's Govt was utterly incapable of organising the manufacture and supply of munitions. Chamberlain's Govt totally botched the Norway landings. Both  Govts were overthrown, but the damage had already been done by then.

Proper investigative political journalism is vital in establishing whether the people who govern us are actually competent at theur jobs. If you see that as "looking for scoops" then you don't truly understand how democracy works. Which is not to say that some, perhaps many of them aren't just looking for scoops - but you need to look past that and see the work done by the small number of brilliant journalists who do the quiet heavy lifting that is so necessary. Or you can just shrug your shoulders and ignore the mistakes of Govt.

TBF BST, I probably should have aimed my comment at the last paragraph of MMs post.
I do agree with him though that some of the press people are looking for scoops and MM didn’t say that all the press people do so.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I also agree with that last paragraph. But again, there are question that MUST be asked. You don't just give Govt a free pass.

Here's a big one.

California has a population about 2/3rds of ours. It had its first locally transmitted case of CV-19 the same week we did.

California bis currently projected to have fewer than 2000 deaths in this first wave. We are looking at around 30,000 plus probably another 10-20,000 due to other non-CV19 cases not being treated.

There's a huge question to be asked about why they have managed this so much better than we have.

[drfchound]

We have been told that the virus doesn’t like heat so given that it is considerably warmer in California than it is here, could that be a contributory reason?
When you consider the way Trump is “managing” things over there it surely can’t be down to his methods.
Bye the way, I have never said that the UK government shouldn’t be challenged over the handling of the virus situation.

[Filo]

We have been told that the virus doesn’t like heat so given that it is considerably warmer in California than it is here, could that be a contributory reason?
When you consider the way Trump is “managing” things over there it surely can’t be down to his methods.
Bye the way, I have never said that the UK government shouldn’t be challenged over the handling of the virus situation.

In that case why has it ravaged Spain?

[drfchound]

We have been told that the virus doesn’t like heat so given that it is considerably warmer in California than it is here, could that be a contributory reason?
When you consider the way Trump is “managing” things over there it surely can’t be down to his methods.
Bye the way, I have never said that the UK government shouldn’t be challenged over the handling of the virus situation.

In that case why has it ravaged Spain?

I have no idea mate, I just put it out there.
It can’t be Trumps methods though can it?

[Swifty62]

Next week they are having someone on who shows more compassion, and regret.. so from Monday Doctor Hannibal lector will  be in charge